Bill Simmons:
My final ruling on the 18-inning Braves/Astros game in the Levels of Losing … all things considered, it was one of those rare games that combined Levels 2 thru 5 on the list. The grand slam at 6-1 made it a “This Can’t Be Happening” Game, as well as a Broken Axle Game. Ausmus’s two-out homer definitely made it a Stomach Punch Game. The next eight innings earned it “Guillotine Game” status. And then Chris “Corky” Burke’s game-winning homer was a full-fledged, Defcon 5 Stomach Punch moment. That was simply brutal. Almost unprecedented, actually.
Simmons’ “Levels of Losing” column is probably behind the Insider wall now. Level One is Game 6 of the 1986 World Series, so we’re right after that. Great, huh?
it started to be a “this can’t be happening game” as soon as Franco’s foot was called off the bag, immediately following Giles’ foot being off the bag.
What’s the level that you can see the weakness all season long, you hope that it won’t hurt you, and it comes back to bite you worse than you ever thought it could? I think that’s similar to the broken-axle, but it might be a different one less apparent to the national media.
Achilles heel?
Triple post…
Hah! Stick it to the Insider man!
Google Cache
Not to critique Simmons’ column, but there should be some tie-in to the importance of the game, maybe he had it and I missed it. The only way you could see the Sox’ loss in ’86 as a more excruciating blowup than the Braves’ collapse in Game 4 was that it cost them the WS. I guess that goes without saying, but had this been a WS game, this would have been the most devastating loss in the history of sports, I believe.
(Deleted because I don’t want the lawyers after my hide — MT)
Someone might have already reported this, but for any Dayn Perry haters this is worth a laugh.
He stated that we should move Chipper to 1st and let Marte cover 3rd, but here is what he thinks the Braves should do w/ Laroche.
“but where would that leave Adam LaRoche? The Braves should probably see whether LaRoche can handle an outfield corner postion”????????????
LaRoche in the outfield would be as useless as Dan Kolb closing for us again next year! Give me a break!!!!
Although I wanted to retain hope & was fighting for it during the entire extra 9 innings, the Sunday game was certainly a new experience. I like the execution analogy, because that’s exactly what I was thinking, too.
After the second Farns gag-o-rama, I felt like I’d been sentenced to death & was carted off to a cell in wait for the executioner; the end of each extra inning was like hearing a phone ringing in the background (and hoping it was the governor); finally, the executioner shows up and tells you that he just wants to show you the new furniture he bought. You suspect it’s a dirty trick, but you follow anyway. It ends in an instant. A new kind of sports agony.
As bad as this one was, however, it still doesn’t hurt as bad as some of the others. Can’t say that I’ve ever gotten over ’96.
Dayn Perry should be writing in bathroom stalls. His articles are the worst ever. I laughed when I read it too.
How about Scott Norwood missing a 27 yarder (or thereabouts) against the Giants in their first Superbowl loss? Where do you think that ranks on the levels?
It was at least 35 yards. Not impossible but far from a gimme.
According to this, it was 47 yards. Tough kick.
http://www.answers.com/topic/scott-norwood
Actually, it was 92. I remember because I was there.
you are right, it was 47 yards. Too long to be a gimmie and bring the loss into the lower levels of losing hell.
I think two of these gag-me games come from college football. I’m an Auburn guy, let’s go with these two..
1972 – #2 Alabama leads Auburn 16-3 late in the 4th quarter at Legion Field. Auburn blocks two punts in the last five minutes, returning both for touchdowns, and Bear Bryant’s Crimson Tide was stunned in a 17-16 loss dubbed “Punt Bama Punt.” Alabama bumper stickers read “UA 16, AU 3, Santa 14”
1994 – Auburn, riding a 13-game winning streak, played LSU on a muddy September afternoon in Auburn. LSU soared to a 23-9 early 4th quarter lead before throwing a pick-6. Three plays later, another pick-6 and the game was tied. LSU then promptly drove down the field to kick a go ahead FG to make it 26-23. After a subsequent three-and-out by Auburn, LSU was forced with 3rd and long .. do you run the ball and kick it back to Auburn, or throw it? They throw it, another pick-six with 1:30 left. Auburn took the lead 30-26, only to see LSU drive down the field, throw long to the endzone (ball was intercepted, then fumbled at midfield, recovered by LSU.) Two plays later, with :08 left, LSU threw into the endzone again for yet another interception. AU rallied from 23-9 down to win 30-26 despite -14 offense in the 4th. Unreal.
Yeah, Punt Bama Punt is probably a 4 and 5, with elements of a 2 — not full-fledged, because Alabama dominated the game until that happened.
The best we can counter with is Wrong Way Bo, but that’s not the same.
Andrew, I have to delete that. I really don’t want the ESPN lawyers after me.
I guess Simmons doesn’t realize that Defcon 5 is actually peace-time military readiness; as a sports metaphor, Defcon 5 would mean the offseason. I expected he meant Defcon 1, “maximum readiness,” or the moment right before the big red button (or Chris Burke’s bat) is used.
Surprising, since you know he’s seen “War Games” 27 times.
War Games, awesome flick.
How bout that Cubs – Marlins NCLS game.. 8 runs in the 8th was it?
or the Miracle on Ice from the Russian perspective in 1980
If you are going to talk about classically painful losses, think of Buffalo (with their backup QB, Frank Reich) coming back against the Houston Oilers in 1992. How terrible it must have been to be an Oilers fan (personally it didn’t bother me at all since it allowed my Cowboys to kick Buffalo’s behind in the Superbowl that year).
Well, I remember all the painful Braves loses. The one on Sunday is special because I lost my whole night of sleep watching the six-hour game, and I have to head straight to work right after Burke’s homerun. It really can’t get worse than that…
On the bright side, at least we know what is going to happen next season already. The Braves are assured of the 15th straight NL East crown and Cliff Floyd is guaranteed to miss his obligatory 70 games. It’s part of MLB’s “Back to Normalcy” plan for the 2006 season.
(Yes, I know it’s the Onion…so the above is sarcastic, unfortunately.)
MLB Promises Next Season Will Be Even More Predictable
Thanks for posting these, y’all. I’m now well on my way to the acceptance phase of recovery.
Clark, urlhix. If you like the Onion you will love this
http://www.sportspickle.com/
Anybody see Reggie Sanders lose a battle involving the laws of physics and the warning track in the NLCS game? That was headache-inducing to watch.
I haven’t watched a game all week. And that’s weird for me. I wonder if I’ll watch another voluntarily (I’m sure the WS will bring me back). I’m even sorta past Sunday’s game… I just can’t care about these games. Maybe I’m taking too much Lithium.
My personal story from Sunday is that I was on the road heading to visit a friend. It was cool because I love listening to baseball in the car. Everything was almost perfect… a 3 hour drive and a (roughly) 3 hour game… I remember saying “this couldn’t possibly be going any better” after the slam… I was in a convenience store for Fansfest #1… so I got to here it from my wife rather than the pain and agony of real time… then there was one more out to go, and I was less than a mile away. Everything seemed so perfect once again. Then it happened. Get there, hang out for three hours of extra innings… back into the car, less than one mile away and it ends. Luckily, it’s hard to slit your wrists while driving.
Mac;
I’m back. My wife finally let me use a butter knife at dinner last night and insisted that I wear some other color than black. Here in Happy Colts land, where everything is blue, she bought me a Manning jersey, but it had that accursed number 18 on the back, so, obviously, I had to chew it off the shirt.
But I’m feeling much better now!
The closer/reliever disussion yesterday was awesome both for its specifics and its subtext. The underlying point–how can you best spend your money to get a competitive advantage on your opponents–is one that JS deservedly can write a book on.
But if they tell me one more time that, hey, the playoffs are a crapshoot and nobody can plan for a team that will peform well, I’m going to have question their goals and motivations.
14 straight is a measure of excellence; 6 years of early exits is an indicator of another.
It’s starting to get all red around the edges again. Thanks for listening.
It’s worse losing in the early rounds. At least, if you lose in the World Series, you made the World Series.
oddly rnough the marlins and mets have both released their 2006 schdules through their official mlb.com webpage, but we have not. however, we are playing the phillies to start the season (or so i would presume as mets or playing nats and florida playin astros)
Ububba, you’re right: ’96 was far worse than this year or any other. We had that series by the stones. I had this ‘lucky’ stick about the same size as a little league bat that I would pace around the house in when the Braves got in tight situations. I almost beat a hole through my floor with it after Wohlers gave up that homer to that little low-level-mafia-wannabe scrub whose name I will not use. No sporting event has ever made made me more despondent, aside from the time I cried (hey I was 9) when the convict drove the snowplow out on the field in a late ’82 match-up between NE and Miami in Foxboro so that a patch could be cleared for the kicker to boot a game-winning field goal.
91 game 7 was very tough too. I still remember Lonnie Smith didn’t score from first base on a double by Pendleton and Ken Hrbek pulling Gant’s feet off the bag…Sid Bream grounded into the base-loaded double play…boy it was horrible…
I think 1996 was the year I really started hating the Yankees. That was the year of the Jeffrey Maier catch against the Orioles, which I have never forgotten, despite being barely 9 years old at the time, and the Braves losing in the World Series. I’ve been trying to trace my hatred back and figure out when it started, and I think I’ve finally found the reason. And it just gets worse by the year, too.
Side note: Doug Eddings has bodyguards now. I was upset about that call, but it was ambiguous, he did apologize for not being more emphatic with his signals, and as far as I’m concerned, stuff happens. No need to send him death threats. Although I do wish they’d institute replay for calls that are pivotal or affect scoring, like home runs and doubles fair/foul, whether a ball hit a batter (like Grudzielanek last night or a hit by pitch like David Ortiz last week which the ump missed), and plays at home.
Jenny,
I agree with you that it’s sad that the umpire has to have bodyguards. The proper resolution would have been for gutless Selig to have removed him from all future playoff games for incompetence. It was not ambiguous–it was simply a blown call, due to the umpire being conned by the actions of Piezynski. Eddings is a lousy umpire to begin with, not to mention being a showboat with a short fuse.
Painful ’96 WS story: I went to the games in ATL. On the plane from NYC to ATL that Monday, I sat next to Joe Torre’s sister-in-law. She was really nice and–perhaps since we’d outscored them 16-1 in the first two games–I was real nice, too.
We talked about Joe’s term in ATL in the early ’80s & other stuff. Before the plane landed, I gave her a half-hearted good luck, fully expecting to be celebrating a little back-to-back action at the Euclid Ave Yacht Club by midnight Thursday night, and she said (I swear), “Y’know, Joe told us we’d win the 3 in Atlanta and win it all Saturday night in New York.” I smiled, waved & deplaned.
Cut to the next scene: Game 4, I’m sitting upstairs on the aisle across from the Yankee families. I remember Luis Sojo’s dad was about 5 feet from me (looked just like him, too). When Lipshitz hit the HR off Woe Daddy, the only noises I could hear in that place were from those families next to me and from the Yankees pouring out of the dugout.
Then, I had that Twilight Zone moment: I immediately flashed back to what Torre’s sister-and-law said. In my head, I heard Theremin sci-fi music and the rest of the series was like the end of the first “Halloween” movie–bodies in Braves uniforms just kept falling out of closets. (And, of course, 1999 was “Halloween II.”)
I’ve witnessed some sports heartbreaks in my time. I’ve seen Georgia lose the National Championship at the Sugar Bowl; I’ve seen the Falcons gag to the Cowboys in the playoffs; I’ve seen my Devils lose the Stanley Cup to Colorado & have their hearts ripped out rather historically by Mark Messier. But no moment has ever sucked as bad as that one.
’91 was bad too, but after having never known them in my fan lifetime as anything but a lousy team, I was just happy that the team made the WS. It also helped that having grown up in Orlando (where the Twins played their spring training games then) I was able to meet alot of those MIN players when I was a kid and they were all very accessable, willing to sign autographs, etc. . . . I still wish that Lonnie had kept running though.
I wish someone had knocked him in. Surely should have.
They kinda did.
Well gang I started eating solid foods again toady!
You’re right, Mac. I’m just sensitive to the whole Lonnie/goat thing for some reason. It wasn’t the only oportunity to win that game or series. Plus, I was still devastated from game 6, so my feelings for game 7 aren’t as strong anyway.
For me, in general, 1991 hurts the most because even though there were blown chances, it’s the one time I’m sure that Atlanta outplayed the other team enough to win 4 of 7. 1996 hurts like hell because things were cruising along, but it still felt like an earned loss overall. 1991 has always felt like getting screwed over, and that has a lasting sting to it.
This is a little funny because I actually emailed the sports guy about this very same topic sunday night, asking for a levels of losing rating and complaining about espn insider, please tell me I wasn’t the only one pathetic enough to do this. And on the topic of awful losses, I still hold a grudge against eric gregg for the livan game, it was probably the worst strike zone I’ve ever seen even if it was consistent throughout most of the game.
John I did the same thing!
Listening to Doug Eddings get booed and cursed at every time he so much as twitched tonight was very cathartic. I hope it continues.
This really belongs in a different thread, but since this is the one that is still active, I want to put forward a couple of potential transactions. Andy Marte for Ryan Howard. Probably never happen since Phillies and Braves are in the same division, but wouldn’t both GM’s at least give this some serious thought if it was proposed? Phillies would prefer to keep Howard over Thome, but that contract is virtually unmovable. Meanwhile, Bell had the 4th most ABs on your team and posted a .248/.310/.361 line. Marte is blocked by Chipper, and we could definitely use Howard’s .288/.356/.567 at 1B. His splits against lefties were bad, but he didn’t get a lot of ABs against them. You could re-sign Julio to back him up. This will undoubtedly bring some derision, but if Furcal is not re-signed, you could do worse than to take a flyer on Nomar for a 1 year incentive laden contract. True he played 3rd when he came back, but I think that was mostly because Ramirez was hurt. Our defense would definitely suffer, but if he could remain healthy for a season, I think he still has something to give on offense (his numbers were comparable to Furcal, same BA, lower OBP, higher SLG). And the marketing potential is excellent because his name still has cachet with the broader public as well as the GT connection. He seems like the kind of player that might do well under Cox, he wouldn’t be expected to shoulder the entire offensive load, plus he would be trying to show he still could play so he could earn one more big payday. Doesn’t seem so far-fetched to me.
Kirk, I have been hearing that the Phillis will put in a sincere effort to teach Howard to play leftfield next season, I don’t know why because they have Burrell there already. It seems to me that they will be keeping Howard also because Thome is proned to get hurt every year.
I am not sure if the Braves want Nomar. I don’t know much about Nomar’s personality, but he seems to care more about the attention he is getting than winning. Maybe I am wrong, but the fact is that the Red Sox won the last World Series because they trade Nomar away, and they were a better team with Cabrera at shortstop.